Climate change and a country shortchanged
COP27 -- the Conference of Parties -- is the United Nations Climate Change Conference that kicks off tomorrow in Egypt in the noble pursuit of coming towards a common agreement among nations to reduce Earth's rising temperature.
Ice caps are melting, sea levels are rising, so are forest fires on the rise; prolonged droughts and floods are ravaging countries across the world as nature's fury is associated with Climate Change triggered by a warmer planet.
By its description, COP27 is the 27th annual global summit since 1995 when world leaders recognised the world was getting warmer, and for the worse. For 27 years they have been grappling with ways and means of tackling climate solutions which the UN Secretary General says must "match the scale of the problem".
According to a UN report, in 2009, rich countries committed to providing economically developing countries adequate financial support, to the tune of USD 100 billion annually for any loss by extreme weather and for adopting alternatives to the use of fossil fuels, but that support is non-existent. This very issue has been "the elephant that never leaves the negotiating room" and will be a matter of great importance for developing countries even though it is not on the agenda at tomorrow's COP27. The developed world and Russia are spending billions on a war in Ukraine, on the other hand.
The Group of 77 (G-77), a coalition of 134 developing countries which includes India and China, is expected to speak on the subject. Sri Lanka is a founder member of G-77 that banded together under the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) banner where one of its own sons, Dr. Gamani Corea, was once Secretary General. It was a time when South-South cooperation was at its zenith as an off-shoot of the Non-Aligned Movement. It was also a time when Sri Lanka's voice was heard in these foreign deliberations. Today, her voice abroad is muted.
Sri Lanka has been identified as one of the most vulnerable countries affected by Climate Change and is entitled to global funding, and its contribution to global greenhouse gas emission is a minuscule 0.03 percent, but its lack of expertise in applying for such climate finance mechanisms is preventing accruing maximum benefit.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa attended COP26 last year in Scotland and spoke of Sri Lanka's targets for reducing greenhouse gasses and shifting to renewable energy. He also made a virtue of his 'No organic' policy at home. President Ranil Wickremesinghe will be at COP27 and is expected to launch a 'Climate Prosperity Plan' focussing on strategies on how Sri Lanka could utilise new trends adopted in facing Climate Change for development. These include focusing on manufacturing climate-smart technologies, and earning foreign exchange, etc.
COP27 is expected to have a special focus on agriculture and food, unlike previous summits. Climate-Smart agriculture practices, off-farm and on-farm water management and developing community markets, etc., are on its agenda. Unfortunately, many relevant officials dealing with the subject at home are unable to attend this conference due to the foreign exchange crisis.
A roadmap for carbon neutrality by 2050 is still on the drawing boards in Sri Lanka. With obstructionist CEB brahmins stalling renewable energy (solar and wind) plans for the future, and deforestation continuing with political backing, mitigating the effects of Climate Change and adapting to changing weather patterns is a long and winding road ahead.